Houdini || A Happy Lowman Love Story

41

It was about 7:00 pm when we pulled up to Romero Brothers Scrapyard. A prospect opened the gate for us and let us in. A few of the guys were standing around like they were waiting for us. Ope and I parked our bikes and got off. I twisted slight and cracked my back.

"Opie," the president said.

"Bishop," he replied, bro hugging the man. They must've known each other. The two together looked comical. Bishop was barely larger than me and Opie's a huge man.

"You must be Houdini," Bishop said.

"Since I was 15," I said with a bit of a smirk tugging at my lips. I shook his hand as one of the guys complained about me being a woman.

"I wouldn't do that," Opie said. "She knocked Ricki from Indian Hills around last night for saying that."

Bishop turned to look at his guys. "Alvarez trusts her."

I nodded a bit. "Asked me personally to come down. Said I'd know more when I got here."

"Let's head into Templo and we can talk."

I nodded and followed the men inside.

Opie and I took seats at the opposite end of the table as the Mayans.

"We do need your advice on the smuggling of drugs across the border," Bishop said. "But thats going to have to wait. We've got a bit of a local problem. Business downtown, a uh, like speciality cigar store." I immediately looked at Opie. "They're causing problems for my guys. Trying to run us out of town. We can't do the damage we need to to them the way we normally do. Butcher shop next door to it is run by Angel's father."

I nodded a bit. "If you've got a car I can borrow or if it's close enough to walk I can case the place tomorrow. It might be the same asshole we had to run out of Charming though. Do you have a name?"

"Zobelle," Angel said.

"So he knows my face but I can case it anyways. I'll do that in the morning and report back by ten or so," I said.

"After that we'll take you to see the operation. And figure out how exactly to strike with this Zobelle asshole," Bishop said. "So templo, 10 am."

Bishop dismissed the meeting and we headed out to get some drinks. I was sitting at the bar when a few of the guys started talking about me in Spanish. They weren't sure they needed me. I rolled my eyes and stood up from the bar.

"Where you going mami?" The one they call Coco asked.

"If you don't need me to handle your Zobelle problem then by all means, I'll go home. But uh, it's Coco, yeah? Being a snipper isn't going to help you get in and out of that store. And Angel and Gilly, you're both far too loud and annoying to get anything done. So here's the deal. I do what Bishop needs from me and I go back north to my home and my ac and my old man. You don't even need to accept that I have a patch. Just accept that if you want to fuck with Zobelle without hurting your father you need me."

"E, chill out," Opie said, handing me a shot of vodka.

"Why is it that I keep being surrounded by men who think I don't belong?"

"You're in a man's world now E," Opie said. I shook my head a bit before downing the shot.

"This is why we don't patch women," Gilly said in Spanish.

"Assholes if you wanna talk about me just do it in English," I responded.

"Where'd the pretty white girl learn Spanish?"

"Latina cellmate in Stockton. Any other questions?"

"Why'd you prospect?"

"Raised in the club," I said. "Our dad's first nine. Been around the club so long we don't know any other life. My time in Stockton was for the club so I got out and demanded to prospect. Fought Half Sack for my kutte. Next?"

"Who's your old man?" Coco asked.

"Happy Lowman," I said, turning my arm enough to show him my tattoo.

I sat down at a table with the three of them and we continued talking for a few hours before Opie and I were told we could stay in the RV across the lot.

"I've gotta be up early. I'll see ya tomorrow."

I excused myself and went to the RV, falling asleep quickly.